


Souvenirs

by Hllangel



Category: White Collar
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-08
Updated: 2011-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:56:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hllangel/pseuds/Hllangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR 3.01 -- El finds one of Peter’s souvenirs and wants to know what it means.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Souvenirs

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR 3.01, _On Guard_. Also for 2.11, _Forging Bonds_. Do not read if you do not want to be spoiled. Many thanks for the Insta-Beta from Karaokegal. Any remaining errors are my own.

El is emptying out the pockets of Peter’s suit to send for dry cleaning when she finds it.

“Peter?” She calls. “Why is there a cut-off tie in your pocket?”

Peter pokes his head out of the kitchen. “It’s Neal’s,” he says.

“I can tell, honey. But why do you have it?”

Peter shrugs. “He’s not perfect. It’s a reminder.”

El thinks there’s more to the story, but she puts the tie aside and continues to sort the laundry, occasionally reaching down to pet Satchmo curled up at her feet.

***

She forgets about the tie for a while, until she’s digging through Peter’s nightstand while he’s in the bathroom getting ready for bed, looking for something and sees it in the corner, nicely rolled up, the ragged edges hidden in the folds. She’d given it back to him after finding it, then put it out of her mind because there was always something going on with Neal, and the tie was just a symptom of everything else. She pulls the bit of silk out and unfolds it, feeling the smooth fabric under her fingers. Shiny and slippery, like Neal himself .

El folds the tie between her fingers and pulls off her nightshirt, waiting by the bathroom door for Peter to be finished. When he comes out she pounces, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him, not letting him see the tie just yet.

He’s pliant under her touch, following her as she starts to move back towards the bed, kissing her like he hasn’t for years and won’t get to ever again. The same way he kisses her every night.

When they get back to the bed, she climbs up backwards, and parts her legs for him, hooking her heels behind his knees. They have to break apart long enough to get his shirt over his head, and that’s when she makes her move: she brings up the silk that she’s been holding at his back and wraps it quickly around his eyes, tying it at the back.

Peter reaches up to feel the blindfold, and El watches his reaction carefully. It’s not like they haven’t played with blindfolds many times before, but she needs him to know exactly what is over his eyes.

His fingers glide over the material itself, a puzzled look on his face, as though he can tell that it’s not one of the pieces they usually use. He moves to the knot at the back and finally to the frayed edges. When he breathes in sharply she knows he’s figured it out.

“You found it,” he says.

“’You kept it.” She guides him onto the bed and helps him position himself in the center of it, pulling down his pajama pants, taking a moment to gently squeeze his hard cock quickly before moving up to his chest. His hands are groping for her, but they’re getting in her way and so she grabs them and moves them up behind his head. “Stay.”

He smiles, and she smiles back, even though he can’t see her. He gets the message, though, and puts his hands up behind his head, gripping the pillows. She kisses him, her hands on his chest for leverage, not letting her hips line up with his just yet. That’s for later. Right now, she has him where she wants him.

She runs her fingers down his chest, and watches him arch up into the touch, clearly wanting more, but she doesn’t give it to him. He’s eager tonight, and she wants to be sure that it’s the tie. She’d suspected that the tie was more than just a reminder of imperfection when she first found it, because while Peter’s always been one to keep souvenirs, they’re for very specific reasons. She’d known about the lollipop, and she knew without asking that he’d caught Neal when he came to see her at work and kissed her with hints of cheap lime candy on his tongue.

But case mementos always stayed at work; and yet this one had ended up in his nightstand, folded to hide the rough, imperfect edges that should have been immediately visible.

“El --” he breathes, and she realizes that she’s stopped moving much, content to sit on his thighs and study him the way he studies Neal. They’ve been married for twelve years, and she thought she knew everything, but clearly she doesn’t know _this_ , even though it probably should have been obvious from the first time he invited Neal for dinner.

Even though she’d intended just to leave the tie in place, she wants to see his full reactions, wants him to watch what she’s doing, so she pulls off the blindfold and runs it down his chest in a straight line to his cock, watching as he thrusts his hips up, desperate for more contact. His dick is hard and straining, and with her other hand she runs her thumb over the head, collecting the sticky fluid that’s leaking out, being careful not to get any of it on the tie.

Quickly, she switches gears, and moves so that she can bend and take him into her mouth, wrapping the tie around her hand and holding it against his hip. He reaches down and grabs her hand, squeezing her fingers and stroking the tie with his thumb. His breathing is getting faster and then he’s coming without any warning, gripping her hand and the tie and straining into her mouth.

She continues to suck gently, working her tongue as he gets soft again, still breathing hard, and making breathy moans that she’s not sure he’s aware of.

El unwinds the tie from her hand and lets him keep hold of it, climbing back up the bed to lay beside him.

He doesn’t let her lie still for long, though. She’s settling in to wait for his round two when he flips her over and moves to bury himself between her legs, still clutching that damned tie, and returning the favor by using it on her chest, her stomach, her thighs.

The silk feels good, but it’s mostly Peter’s enthusiasm that has her on the edge within minutes. He has two fingers inside her, and he’s working his tongue over her clit in the way he knows drives her crazy. Sure enough, her orgasm hits hard and fast, leaving her ragged around the edges and needing him to hold on to. She tugs at his hand, and he follows her implicit request, moving sure and easy, wrapping his arms around her and throwing a leg over her hip.

She plucks the now wrinkled tie from his hand and smooths it out, folding it back the way she found it, hiding the edges and putting it on his nightstand, since she can’t reach the drawer and she doesn’t want to pull away quite yet.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters into her hair.

She knows he’s apologizing for something bigger, something they haven’t yet put a name to, even if they both know what it looks like, and how it’s ( _he’s_ ) constantly pulling at the edges of their life. Peter’s worked with CIs before, but El has rarely met them, never invited them home for dinner, and _never_ found something of theirs tucked away in their bedroom.

Neal is still a con-man, though, and Peter doesn’t trust him, especially these days. She likes Neal, but El trusts her husband.

At least, until she knows exactly why he kept the tie.


End file.
